Rumored next-generation Apple Silicon processor expected in fall 2023 at the earliest
Apple's first Macs running M3 chips could arrive by the end of 2023 at the earliest, a report from a reliable leaker claims, with an "M3 Pro" variant of Apple Silicon variant expected to arrive as well.
A current M2 Max MacBook Pro
While Apple is currently introducing more Macs running on M2 chips, it may not be that long before M3 becomes more of a focus for consumers. Apple is apparently testing its M3 chips, which will be set to succeed the M2 generation possibly by the end of 2023.
In his "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman writes about an App Store developer log that shows Apple is testing a new chip. The SoC in question is described as having a 12-core CPU, an 18-core GPU, and using 36GB of memory.
That CPU consists of six high-performance cores as well as six efficiency cores, Gurman adds. In effect, this is a two-efficiency-core increase over the 10-core CPU used in the entrylevel M2 Pro.
Based on that increase, it's extrapolated that the M3 Max could get a similar gain to 14 CPU cores, and maybe more than 40 GPU cores. For the M3 Ultra, that could be 28 CPU cores and over 80 GPU cores.
The chip line will be the first using a 3-nanometer process by TSMC, which will offer benefits including increasing the density of cores, potential power savings, and maybe even improved thermal management.
Gurman believes that the chip in question is the base variant of M3 Pro, which could end up in the next update of the 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro, that could be released in early 2024.
While those variants could land next year, there's a chance that the chip could be used in Mac units in 2023. Gurman continues to insist that M3 Macs will arrive in the fall at the earliest, with M3 versions of MacBook Air and iMac also in development.
Early rumors, which we doubted, predicted the M3 to arrive as soon as April 2023 in the 15-inch MacBook Air. That date has come and gone, and it obviously didn't come to pass.
Read on AppleInsider
A current M2 Max MacBook Pro
While Apple is currently introducing more Macs running on M2 chips, it may not be that long before M3 becomes more of a focus for consumers. Apple is apparently testing its M3 chips, which will be set to succeed the M2 generation possibly by the end of 2023.
In his "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman writes about an App Store developer log that shows Apple is testing a new chip. The SoC in question is described as having a 12-core CPU, an 18-core GPU, and using 36GB of memory.
That CPU consists of six high-performance cores as well as six efficiency cores, Gurman adds. In effect, this is a two-efficiency-core increase over the 10-core CPU used in the entrylevel M2 Pro.
Based on that increase, it's extrapolated that the M3 Max could get a similar gain to 14 CPU cores, and maybe more than 40 GPU cores. For the M3 Ultra, that could be 28 CPU cores and over 80 GPU cores.
The chip line will be the first using a 3-nanometer process by TSMC, which will offer benefits including increasing the density of cores, potential power savings, and maybe even improved thermal management.
Gurman believes that the chip in question is the base variant of M3 Pro, which could end up in the next update of the 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro, that could be released in early 2024.
While those variants could land next year, there's a chance that the chip could be used in Mac units in 2023. Gurman continues to insist that M3 Macs will arrive in the fall at the earliest, with M3 versions of MacBook Air and iMac also in development.
Early rumors, which we doubted, predicted the M3 to arrive as soon as April 2023 in the 15-inch MacBook Air. That date has come and gone, and it obviously didn't come to pass.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
96GB of RAM looks pretty tasty!
Been thinking about upgrading to a 16" M2 Max, but if the M3 is this close, it may be worth waiting until the fall?
Then they say possibly NEXT year? But no-one is sure when an M3 MB will ship. Great.
WHY the MacBook Air first? Does Apple sell so many more of those?
Unfortunately, my son needs to buy something in the next few months, so we're probably looking at M1 Max or M2 Pro and trying to figure out which has the edge for what he does (and will want to do).
It seems more like it is the M1, M1.25 (called M2), and M2 (called M3) in reality. Hopefully that M3 will put Apple a bit more back where many of his were thinking/hoping when this Apple Silicon stuff started. We're now solidly back to playing catch-up with the PC market, at least in terms of GPUs.
We all got bit by Apple's early planning/design, I think. I was amazed at what Apple accomplished when everyone was deep in the pandemic, but now 3 years later, we're feeling the reality of the pandemic on Apple. It was just delayed a lot more than other companies.
What I really hope we'll start hearing, is more of the tech differences of the M3, instead of just more cores and energy efficiency (again, mostly on the GPU-front). We're now years into the transition, and we still don't really know what Apple's plan is for the pro users in GPU-centric disciplines.
That even makes it a bit more puzzling, as my understanding is a huge problem here is going to be supply/yields. It seems like they might just be trying to follow the release schedule they've initiated (ie. new chip starts in the low end models and then to more advanced systems). Otherwise, they'd maybe be better to introduce the M3 in the Pro and Studio.
Yeah, I'll certainly check it out, but kind of sounds like another yawner on the way. I have near zero interest in the VR stuff at this point. Maybe a bit in AR, but more professionally (vertical markets) than any use for myself personally.
I'm a bit torn on the Mac Pro as well. Unless they give-in in terms of expandability, the Studio seems like the new Mac Pro. What would be the point of a huge case if it can't be expanded? (And, but give-in, I mean add AMD GPUs or something like that back to the platform.)
I'm hoping they are just way behind - the M3 will be impressive - and they would just be too embarrassed to release a Mac Pro right now with M1/M2 tech in it.
That's the hard thing for me to grasp. It would seem (at least from what we know), unless they add AMD back in, it's going to be adequate at best. Hopefully we're pleasantly surprised. Currently, at least for GPU, a top of the line Mac kind of equals a mid-level gaming PC... and then only somewhat (better at one task, worse at others).
Note: this is on the pro side, though. On the consumer side, Apple is certainly kicking butt.
I think they just didn't want to do an iMac M1.25.
Looking forward, I’ll probably buy a loaded M3 Pro Mac mini next year. Expect that’ll be my last Mac as I’ll be 77 then. I’m not a laptop kind of person.
Samsung makes most of the remaining leading edge chips.
Intel is way behind, and any high performance chips they have are not good candidates for laptops that are GPU intensive.
Intel laptops have to be plugged-in to achieve high GPU performance, with large amounts of heat and suck batteries dry rapidly.
Apple seems a bit ahead on the CPU front, but quite a way behind on the GPU end.
There are also hardware video coders and decoders, as well as the 16 neural/AI cores that are used for video functions.
Apple is mostly a consumer electronics company.
Compared to my former late 2013 13" i5 2-core mbp (with no dedicated gpu cores), the 2023 14" M2 Pro mbp (10/16/16 cores) kicks ass.
4k video playback caused full fan speed on the 2013 i5 (and lagging video).
Fans aren't even activated on the 2023 M2 Pro (and I see short parts of video that were skipped on the Intel chip).
ASP is $1200-1300, (3 x $999 + 1 x $1999) / 4 = $1249.
Air outsells MBP by at least 3:1, 28m units x 0.8 = 22m laptops = 16m Air (+13" MBP), 6m MBP.
The $3k+ MBPs will be <2m units/year so 8:1 vs Air.
They already released a successor to the 2013 Mac Pro with little to no expandability with the Mac Studio. What they learned from the 2013 Mac Pro was not to rely on Intel and AMD for their chips. They build their own chips now and they can build whatever they want.
They said there was a Mac Pro coming, it sells below 1% of their units volume so it's not that important. It could launch with M3 but I think they'll announce an M2 model at WWDC. If it's an M2 Ultra with a larger GPU chip (2x M2 Ultra GPU cores = 56TFLOPs), it will do just fine. M3 version would be close to 100TFLOPs.
- The first silicon out in a new generation is the A-series. This is for obvious reasons, Apple builds hundreds of millions of these for iPhone and iPad.
- The base M-series is a variant of the A-series. It powers the consumer line (MB Air, iMac, Mini, iPad Pro) and Apple can make these in volume without missing a beat. The iPhone and the iPad pay for this. That's the genius of Apple Silicon.
- The M-series Pro/Max (and Ultra) is a different story. There are real development costs associated with designing and building the Pro/Max (the Max is just a Pro with two GPU units instead of one, or the Pro is just a Max with only one GPU instead of two), and that development must follow the A-series and the base M-series. It can't happen the other way around. The science and the economics of fabrication don't allow it. Thus, the MB Pro, the (possible) iMac Pro, the Mini Pro, the Mac Studio, and the (probable) Mac Pro all have to wait for the process to unfold.
The economics of doing it the other way around are beyond prohibitive. No one with any knowledge of TSMC's fabs has ever suggested the M3 would appear before 2024. The iPhone Pro line will get 3nm silicon in Fall 2023, probably. But the M-series won't see a refresh until 2024. All the rumors of M3 appearing imminently are just wishful thinking. It's never had any basis in reality.